


Of Whines and Misplaced Bets

by boats_birds



Series: Of Prompts and Requests [4]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Awkward Romance, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, in which even Nigou is tired of their awkwardness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 21:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4408154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boats_birds/pseuds/boats_birds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nigou watched the blue-haired teen and the loud redhead for the rest of practice, ears flat and whining ever so often.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Whines and Misplaced Bets

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Deutsch available: [Von Gewinsel und unangebrachten Wetten](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713578) by [Steffel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steffel/pseuds/Steffel)



> 'so once i saw this prompt about akward kagakuro courting from nigous pov and i would love to see that + maybe nigou offering a helping hand (erm paw?) to kagami in winning over his crush?'
> 
> Prompted by the ever amazing and sweet Darki! <3 So I was supposed to have this done for Seirin Week, but I didn't, because I'm terrible and lazy, but it's here now! I twisted the prompt just a little bit (it's more of an omniscient POV than Nigou's), but I tried to include as much Nigou in it as I could~ I hope it's enjoyable either way!

Nigou flopped onto his back, wagging his tail as Kiyoshi scratched over his belly with a laugh.

The team was taking a much deserved break, sweaty and panting and mumbling about how death was imminent, after running drills until Riko was satisfied with their performance. When Kiyoshi sat down on the bench, rubbing absentmindedly at his knee, Nigou followed close behind. He stared up with those wide blue eyes in a silent beg for attention, and Kiyoshi was more than happy to provide.

Hyuuga collapsed down beside him, breathing heavy and taking a long swig from his water bottle when he could manage between gulps of air. He glanced over at their adorable mascot and grinned. “Nigou’s pretty lucky Coach has a weak spot for cute animals and doesn’t have to practice like this.”

Kiyoshi chuckled and scratched in a spot that had one of Nigou’s back legs kicking. “I suppose so. Having him here is pretty encouraging though.”

“Of course I don’t make innocent and adorable little Nigou practice!” As if she had been summoned by cute puppy talk, Riko appeared beside them, causing Hyuuga to choke on his water, before cooing over Nigou and joining Kiyoshi in petting him. “He deserves only the best treatment!”

Hyuuga scowled. “Hey! Are you saying the dog gets treated better than us?!”

She didn’t answer him, interrupted by Nigou rolling over and looking down the bench, then whining pitifully.

All three of them peered down to where he looked. There was Kuroko and Kagami, and that was nothing unusual. Kagami rubbed a towel over his face, wiping over his hair before reclining back and then wrapping a clean towel around Kuroko’s shoulders. Kuroko moved as if thanking him before taking a drink from his water bottle, swallowing in between breaths.

And then Kuroko handed him the bottle.

It shouldn’t have been a big deal, it shouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. But Kagami’s face flushed a light red before taking it, hands lingering on the plastic, tanned on ivory. He took a deep pull of water, throat bobbing with the movement, and Kuroko’s eyes never strayed from the line of his neck. Kagami handed it back, Kuroko brushing his fingers against Kagami’s, before the redhead ruffled light blue hair with a grin. Kuroko sat there afterwards, staring at the bottle and smiling quietly, pink blush on his cheeks, then took another drink.

“Ah,” Riko and Kiyoshi deadpanned and Nigou whined again.

Hyuuga glanced between the freshman and them. “What? What’s going on?”

Kiyoshi smiled, voice kind and unassuming. “When do you think they’ll finally sort that out?”

“I should make them run extra laps for that,” Riko growled. She stood up and blew her whistle, making all of the team groan miserably and crawl back to their feet. Kuroko and Kagami glanced at each other before quickly looking away, Kagami clearing his throat and standing up before offering Kuroko a hand to help him up.

Kiyoshi chortled under his breath, patting at her shoulder as he passed. “Make sure to go easy on them, they don’t mean to.”

Hyuuga arched a brow and followed after him. “Seriously, what are you two talking about?”

Nigou watched the blue-haired teen and the loud redhead for the rest of practice, ears flat and whining ever so often.

 

* * *

 

Nigou trotted into the showers, yipping and standing under a stream of water, tongue lolling happily.

The team had just finished another particularly grueling practice, legs shaking and griping and poor Koganei was practically collapsed into the floor for his shower. The whole room was filled with steam and soap suds and half-dead teenage boys as Nigou ran through. It wasn’t unusual for Nigou to run into the showers with them, since he loved water and would dart between them to find the best place roll in a puddle.

Mitobe stepped out of the showers with a towel around his waist, and Nigou bounded over to him. The silent boy picked him up with a kind smile, then took him to the locker room. Koganei, Izuki, and Tsuchida were close behind, each of them going to their locker and tugging on clothes while Mitobe carefully dried off Nigou.

“ _Maaan_ , Coach is trying to _kill_ us! She has to be!” Koganei wailed, trying to make his jelly arms put on his shirt properly.

Tsuchida smiled, but there was a nervous air around him. “I hope not. I have a date this Saturday and I’d rather be alive for it.”

Izuki peered over at him. They all knew it was coming, when he got that glint in his eye, and even Mitobe tensed, but it didn’t stop him. “Maybe you should bring some dates for your date!”

Tsuchida tried to scold him, since someone needed to and it really wasn’t that good of a joke, but was interrupted by Nigou who flopped in Mitobe’s hold, whining and blue eyes staring across the room.

All four of them glanced to the corner of the locker room. There was Kuroko and Kagami, and that was nothing unusual. They both stood in front of their lockers with just towels tied around their waists, Kagami digging through the mess in his locker to find a shirt and Kuroko carefully pulling one of his white shirts off its proper hanger, the perfect opposites. They moved methodically, both of them focusing solely on their metal cubicle.

And then Kagami shifted, bumping into Kuroko.

It shouldn’t have been a big deal, it shouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. But they both started apologizing profusely, flustered and blushing and they refused to look at each other, eyes focused on opposite points in the room. Yet when they thought the other wasn’t looking, Kuroko would steal peeks at Kagami’s back, and Kagami at Kuroko’s stomach. They started tugging on clothes, but the tense atmosphere between them seeped across the tile, making Koganei cough awkwardly.

Izuki leaned close to Tsuchida and whispered, “Or maybe you should bring some dates for them.”

Tsuchida wouldn’t give Izuki the satisfaction of laughing, so he snorted quietly. Koganei snuck between them, murmuring conspiratorially, “Make sure you wait until next month. That’s what I put my money on.”

Mitobe stared at the two freshman, then slumped his shoulders, giving Nigou’s fur one last rub with the towel and petting his head before moving to get dressed.

Nigou watched the blue-haired teen and loud redhead as they finished dressing, ears flat and grumbling in his throat.

 

* * *

 

Nigou peeked his head out of Kuroko’s bag, blue eyes darting around the restaurant before finding Kuroko and barking.

All five of the freshman had decided to grab some food from Maji Burger after a casual street game, laughing and teasing Kagami about how he almost hit his head on the rim trying to jump over Furihata. Even on their off days they still played basketball, not always together but when they did, they always went for a meal afterwards, and Kuroko always brought Nigou. Kuroko scratched at Nigou’s ears, the dog leaning in to the touch, before leaning close and whispering, “Shhh, Nigou.”

They were piled into a little corner, away from anyone who might spot that they brought a dog into an eating establishment. Fukuda and Kawahara were having a competition of who could eat the largest mouthful of fries, Furihata carefully counting and acting as referee so he could officially declare the winner. “You know, you two could just call it a draw. I’d like to eat some fries instead of counting them.”

He was somewhere in the twenty’s when he lost count, distracted by a low whine coming from Kuroko’s bag, Nigou’s head popped out with the canine equivalent of a deadpan, blue eyes trained on Kuroko and Kagami.

Furihata nudged Fukuda and Kawahara, and they all stared between Kagami and Kuroko, who had apparently taken up their usual bickering at some point.

Kagami scowled across the table at Kuroko. “I told you that you shouldn’t bring him in here. He’s gonna get us kicked out.”

“How mean, Kagami-kun. Nigou played just as hard as we did.”

“He’s a dog! He can’t play basketball!”

Kuroko eyed him for a moment, blue eyes trailing over his face in a way Kagami didn’t seem to trust, then grabbed his straw for his vanilla shake. He carefully unwrapped just one end of it, placed that end to his lips, and aimed the other end right at Kagami. Then he blew, shooting the wrapper across the table and hitting Kagami in the middle of his forehead, before casually poking the straw into his shake and taking a long draw of it.

Kagami paused, glaring across into blue eyes. “Oh, that does it.”

And then he reached across the table.

It shouldn’t have been a big deal, it shouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. But then Kagami was stealing some of Kuroko’s fries and grabbing his shake, taking a huge drink out of it, and Kuroko was tugging at his hands with (surprisingly enough) giggles bubbling from his mouth. Kuroko kept demanding Kagami give his food back between laughs, and so Kagami grabbed one of his own fries, holding it out across the table teasingly. Kuroko stared at him, and they could’ve sworn there was a smirk before he leaned and took a bite, leaving Kagami with wide eyes and a blush.

“Um, guys,” Fukuda muttered. “Do you think they remember that we’re here?”

Kawahara shook his head and went back to shoving fries in his mouth. “No way, they’re in their own little world now.”

Furihata sighed and knocked his head on the table, grumbling about two idiots getting a hint and to stop being idiots.

Nigou watched the blue-haired teen and the loud redhead feed each other through the rest of their meal, ears flat and close to howling.

 

* * *

 

Nigou grabbed Kagami’s shoe and took off as fast as he could across the gym, bounding straight to the middle of the court with Kagami chasing him.

The team was in the middle of a practice game between the freshman and the upperclassmen, when Kagami complained about something in his shoe, saying that it was just a pebble or something and he needed just a minute. He sat down on the bench and took his shoe off, knocking out a small piece of gravel, before moving to put it back on. But unfortunately, as soon as he set his shoe down, Nigou had darted out and grabbed it, running away from him as quickly as he’d appeared like the damn dog had misdirection now.

The rest of them were too busy laughing to notice Nigou rushing straight to Kuroko, zipping between his legs and dashing away from him when Kuroko tried to reach for his jersey. It was strange behavior for the normally well-behaved dog, especially since he always listened to Kuroko. And yet there was a determined air about him as he lightly chewed on Kagami’s shoe, dropping onto his forelegs and wagging his tail playfully.

Kagami hopped across the gym, yelling as loud as he could, “Nigou! Give me back my shoe!”

Kuroko again tried to catch the puppy, and he’d nearly hooked his fingers in the red and black of number 16, when Nigou flattened his ears and whined at him.

He froze, immediately glancing over black and white fur for any sign of injury. “Nigou, are you alright?”

Then the puppy sprang up and ran between his legs again, prancing up to Kagami who finally managed to catch up. Only then he started darting between Kagami’s legs, causing the redhead to wobble back and forth, trying to keep balance and avoid Nigou at the same time with little success. Kuroko reached for him, to help him stay upright, hands pressing against a firm chest.

And then Nigou dropped the shoe, rubbing against Kagami’s leg, and he lost his balance completely.

It shouldn’t have been a big deal, it shouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. They landed with a bang, Kagami immediately scrambling to get his weight off Kuroko’s little body and check his head for bumps. But then he noticed his own reflection in wide blue eyes, and their faces were less than an inch apart, and he lost all of his breath.

It wasn’t how either of them meant for it to happen, but Nigou barked from beside their heads, making Kagami jolt, and their lips brushed.

_And_ _okay, that was really nice_.

Tanned and pale cheeks flushed dark, mouths open but no words coming out, and the silence of the gym echoed in their ears. Kagami’s brain had certainly melted into mush by now, and he was already in deep shit and possibly in the midst of a dream anyways, so he decided it was worth the risk to press their lips together again. It was chapped and rough, but it was still _so pleasant_ , setting the hairs of his arms on end. Kuroko, much to his surprise, seemed to like this kissing idea very much, given how his fingers tangled in his hair and refused to let him pull away.

_“Finally!_ ” came a chorus behind them.

Their eyes snapped open and they jumped apart, turning to find the entire team staring at them with the most relieved looks on their faces.

There were mutterings of “I was beginning to think they never would,” and “Now we don’t have to deal with that anymore.” Koganei was nearly in tears, grumbling about how he lost some bet, as him and nearly all the rest of the team placed money into Furihata’s palm. Even Mitobe was smiling and bouncing quietly to himself. Only Hyuuga looked shocked, his jaw dropped before pointing an accusatory finger at Kiyoshi, “ _That’s_ what you two were talking about!”

Riko approached them, placing her hands on her hips and leaning over them with a scowl. “We’re all very happy for you, but you just cost me a week of allowance and I think fifteen laps are good, don’t you?”

Kagami balked. “Fifteen laps?! Because I kissed Kuroko?!”

She smiled. “You’re right. Make it twenty.”

Kagami went to exclaim again, but Kuroko smacked a hand over his mouth. “Yes, Coach.”

They stood up, Kagami hoisting Kuroko to his feet (and giving him a quick check for head injuries, much to Kuroko’s annoyance as he smacked his hands away). Blue eyes met red, pink still resting on the arch of their cheekbones, and then their hands met, twisting together as they started to jog around the gym.

The rest of Seirin stared, and then they all released a groan simultaneously. Koganei mumbled, “Oh no, they’re gonna be even worse now,” as Riko called out, “Make it twenty-five!”

Nigou watched the blue-haired teen and the loud redhead as they did their laps with fingers entangled, ears perked up and yipping happily every time they ran past him.


End file.
